This is to STAR TREK mythos what YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES was to Arthur Conan Doyle's character. It not only tells the tale of how young James Kirk met who was to become his first officer, Spock, but also how they both entered Starfleet to begin with. The authors do something unexpected, by making Kirk a troubled teenager totally opposed to Starfleet, which he blames for the death of his father, and Spock as a rebellious teenager trying to deal with the emotional turmoil of his mixed heritage. He is trying to expose a mysterious conspiracy he perceives is going on at the Vulcan Embassy and continually gets in trouble with is stoic father, Sarek.

Although I imagine, like the other William Shatner penned STAR TREK novels that this takes place in a parallel or "what if" world and is not a part of the official continuity of the franchise, it is nevertheless entertaining and fascinating the authors can pull this off.